Japan Considers Building Nukes

Posted on Dec 25, 2006

The Japanese daily Sankei says it has obtained an internal government report outlining the requirements for building a nuclear weapon. The Japanese government denies that it intends to build such a device. However, public pressure has mounted following North Korea’s nuclear and missile tests.

AP via Yahoo:

The ... Sankei reported that experts at several government organizations concluded it would take at least three to five years to make a prototype weapon.

The experts also estimated that the project would cost about $1.68 billion to $2.52 billion and require the efforts of several hundred engineers, according to Sankei.

The experts did not say whether Japan should develop nuclear arms, the newspaper reported, only what such a project would require. The newspaper published a summary of the document, dated Sept. 20 and titled “On the Possibility of Developing Nuclear Weapons Domestically.”